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Posted
1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

He was just so loose. I don’t mind when he goes for a long run and misses a target. That’s fine and it’s what you get with him. 
But you can’t play down back and be miles off your man. He just was nowhere near anyone. Lever peels off but he has the IQ and skills to do if. Hunt just gets lost out of position. I think not having the usual generals down there and poor Lever doing everything didn’t help.

 

Hunt was so loose=I don't want him as a Defender, he's not one. Goes for a run and misses a target=I don't want that from any Defender. That's what you get from him, from me=I don't want him in a Melbourne jumper. Hunt gets lost and out of position=I don't want him on the ground, especially as a Defender. Sorry Hunt Whipping boy rant over. I'd sure like him to improve but he reminds me of Sam Blease.

  • Like 1

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

I'm annoyed that we've knowingly kept 3+ list cloggers on our list rather than gone and chased midfield, half back and half forward depth. Players that you can find in the state leagues and players that other teams have found in the SPP period. Not much we can do about that now though.

Game plan wise I maintain that we just aren't sharing and running with the ball to full capacity. Everything is too straight lines and bomb it. That worked last year, but you have to adapt and build.

Bowey, Lever and Tomlinson started to settle down in the 2nd half, that was good to see. With more quality back in against the Dogs the backline should be far better. 

Midfield probably couldn't play much worse. Oliver and Petracca do play such a physical style though so I can see why if they're a little bit off they kind of drop away. Just not convinced by our depth though. JJ was a great story last year but he's kind of meh. And Sparrow unfortunately doesn't look to really have made a big leap. And Harmes in Harmes, useful, but not exactly getting any better.

Forward line is the real worry though. Ben Brown fell back down to earth after a great effort last week. Jackson hasn't made a lot of progress in terms of clunking marks and it can't be easy having to switch positions so much. And Tom McDonald is so feast or famine from contest to contest. You just don't know if he'll clunk a mark or hit a target or if he'll let his man gallop away from him with ease.

What an embarrassingly poor post.

have a spell DeeSpecer, and wake up to the reality of the importance of pre-season games 

 

Edited by 1964_2
  • Like 7

Posted

A disappointing night ,Our good players will continue to be good but there is little to get excited about with those fringe players who got a chance tonight .hunt still has no idea how to do anything but run at one pace in a straight line ,Cant he learn to step or swerve or even vary his pace .?He get picked off so easily laterally when he runs with the ball .Baker  is not good or hard enough ,Tomlinson is so slow as he has had only 10 months to get over his ACL and needs half a season at Casey.The ball continues to bounce off Weeds hands as it has done for the past 3 seasons.Spargo seems to be revisiting his 2019 form. Our best 22 will give the flag a shake but heaven help us if we get sa bad run of injuries.

Posted (edited)

As good as our mid were at times last year it wasn’t our strength, our defence is where we really have a point of difference to everyone else it gives us the luxury of gambling round the ground safe in the knowledge we can defend if it goes wrong. With 5 of our starting 6 missing it’s clear it all fell apart. Tonight will hopefully be a lesson on how to adjust our game plan in such as scenario

Edited by Garbo
  • Like 6
Posted

Difficult to gauge how much to take from that. We were putrid, sloppy with the ball in hand, dropped marks, poor kicking etc, but they were very impressive.

Hunt, Smith and Baker in the backline was a recipe for disaster, but worse was our intensity around the contest and our inability to shut down opposition switches.

Were we playing safe with our bodies to ensure we're there Round 1? Who knows, but if we play anywhere near that level against the Bulldogs, they'll wipe the floor with us. Most teams would have today. 

I wish someone would tell Viney every week is a final, because he's such a good finals player.

  • Like 1

Posted
27 minutes ago, kallangurdemon said:

A disappointing night ,Our good players will continue to be good but there is little to get excited about with those fringe players who got a chance tonight .hunt still has no idea how to do anything but run at one pace in a straight line ,Cant he learn to step or swerve or even vary his pace .?He get picked off so easily laterally when he runs with the ball .Baker  is not good or hard enough ,Tomlinson is so slow as he has had only 10 months to get over his ACL and needs half a season at Casey.The ball continues to bounce off Weeds hands as it has done for the past 3 seasons.Spargo seems to be revisiting his 2019 form. Our best 22 will give the flag a shake but heaven help us if we get sa bad run of injuries.

Get a grip mate :- you have missed the concept of “practice match” 

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Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, A F said:

Difficult to gauge how much to take from that. We were putrid, sloppy with the ball in hand, dropped marks, poor kicking etc, but they were very impressive.

Hunt, Smith and Baker in the backline was a recipe for disaster, but worse was our intensity around the contest and our inability to shut down opposition switches.

Were we playing safe with our bodies to ensure we're there Round 1? Who knows, but if we play anywhere near that level against the Bulldogs, they'll wipe the floor with us. Most teams would have today. 

I wish someone would tell Viney every week is a final, because he's such a good finals player.

What is wrong with demons supporters? 3 words :- pre-season game!!

Being at the ground tonight I saw absolutely nothing to be worried about. 

We played bruise free footy (which you can’t blame a premiership team for, in a pre-season game) against a team who has been a constant disappointment, Looking to get their season off on the right note.

I saw nothing tonight to suggest we will by less than 30 points in our R22 game

 

 

Edited by 1964_2
  • Like 1
Posted
3 hours ago, Seraph said:

I would imagine they'll be told to relax tomorrow.

50m penalty for shaking your head while looking at the ground. What an absolute joke.

yep. and Thomlinson looking up at the replay and gesturing it was the wrong call. words cannot describe how ridiculous the 8 50s were tonight.

  • Like 5

Posted
1 hour ago, Ben E said:

Not concerned in the slightest. We’ll smash the Blues next time we meet.

Reminded me of Round 19 v Bulldogs last year when, other than our clearly being below our best, there were three key factors that determined the result: outstanding individual performance from their captain, lots of goals from an unusual source (forward stoppages for Dogs, centre clearances for Blues) and, let’s face it, a dream run from the umps. As we saw in the Grand Final, the likelihood of all three happening against us again is nil. 

(Also, throw in May and Salem, and we’re a different proposition.)

throw in May, Salem, Rivers, Petty, Hibberd

Posted (edited)

The scoreboard is irrelevant in Praccy matches,both teams are playing players in new/different positions.

The one stat that told me everything i needed to know at half time was we laid 22 tackles,there was no pressure.

4 of our 6 premiership defenders out and Carlton had 10 goals to half time,in the GF,Bulldogs kicked 10 goals for the whole game!!! 

When we decided to have a dip in the second half,we put on 10 goals to 5 and 9 of the last 12 goals.

In the home and away,we'll beat the Blues by 10+ goals

 

 

 

Edited by Jack7
  • Like 7

Posted

Really solid hit-out. We sat 4 wide the trip off of a moderate tempo, and we given no favors in the run, only to go down a short half head. Fair effort.

Not much else to report. If Carlton were impressive off of that match - good luck to them.

On our list, good solid hit-out. We didn’t get injured, didn’t disgrace ourselves, and will take learnings from this. Practice matches are just like sparring, nothing more nothing less. Sparring is practice not the real thing.

  • Like 5
Posted

Praccie game.

Really confused on the Trac 50? Look like he was just frustrated with himself. but what 8 of them, plus the 6-6-6 rule breaches.  Looked like player didn't know where they were going.

 

What was obvious its going to tea more work to get our 2nd their players into the structure of the team.  Looked like a lack of talk with multiple contesting the same ball.

Can the weid take an overhead mark at AFL level?? Had 2 good opportunities and missed both.  though I heard he played in Casey earlier in the day and kicked 4.  But he's still dropping what he should take.

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, Ungarieboy said:

Who played wing tonight? It seemed we tried a lot of different combinations and none worked. Brayshaw back to this role will make a difference. Combined with Salem back and we will be significantly stronger. Then there's May, who organises the back half.

Were there any midfield tackles?

 

The only concern might be the flow on effect of an injury to Brayshaw or Langdon in the regular season. Would Jordan then play their predominantly? Will he be reliable enough? Or would it be another wasteland for the midfield rotations again? It might go back to being one of our weaknesses. Whatever happened to the training of TMAC as a wingman in early 2021? We had injuries to Weid/BB that shifted our focus, but is it permanently shelved as an option? When I saw the big lineup of Weid/Brown/Tmac/Jackson, I thought we might use it as an opportunity to see TMAC up the ground, minding space and providing aerial capabilities. But it might be too theoretical at this stage, more important to give forward line practice to TMAC for the regular season.

Anyway, putting all this practice-match nonsense aside, it will be great to see Brayshaw back on that wing.

Edited by John Demonic
  • Like 1
Posted
6 hours ago, picket fence said:

70%

Well with 8 50 metre turnovers and two calls for an excess of players in the Centre bounce area I suggest lots. We should have won by a large margin but for these calls and add to that fumbles, turnovers etc.

Posted
6 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Geez. You'd be worried if the game actually meant anything. Carlton probably have an open top bus down Lygon St organised for tomorrow. 

About the only win they will get all Season

 

Posted
4 hours ago, 4_Kent_Watts said:

Hunt was so loose=I don't want him as a Defender, he's not one. Goes for a run and misses a target=I don't want that from any Defender. That's what you get from him, from me=I don't want him in a Melbourne jumper. Hunt gets lost and out of position=I don't want him on the ground, especially as a Defender. Sorry Hunt Whipping boy rant over. I'd sure like him to improve but he reminds me of Sam Blease.

You never mentioned Smith ??  My opinion of Smith is he is becoming another O McDonald, ( fumbles, missed opportunities etc) and loved by the Coaches like O Mc was... 

Posted
6 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

I'm annoyed that we've knowingly kept 3+ list cloggers on our list rather than gone and chased midfield, half back and half forward depth. Players that you can find in the state leagues and players that other teams have found in the SPP period. Not much we can do about that now though.

Game plan wise I maintain that we just aren't sharing and running with the ball to full capacity. Everything is too straight lines and bomb it. That worked last year, but you have to adapt and build.

Bowey, Lever and Tomlinson started to settle down in the 2nd half, that was good to see. With more quality back in against the Dogs the backline should be far better. 

Midfield probably couldn't play much worse. Oliver and Petracca do play such a physical style though so I can see why if they're a little bit off they kind of drop away. Just not convinced by our depth though. JJ was a great story last year but he's kind of meh. And Sparrow unfortunately doesn't look to really have made a big leap. And Harmes in Harmes, useful, but not exactly getting any better.

Forward line is the real worry though. Ben Brown fell back down to earth after a great effort last week. Jackson hasn't made a lot of progress in terms of clunking marks and it can't be easy having to switch positions so much. And Tom McDonald is so feast or famine from contest to contest. You just don't know if he'll clunk a mark or hit a target or if he'll let his man gallop away from him with ease.

Gee, I thought T Mc did a very serviceable job Thursday...   O Mc played his usual trashy game...

Posted
6 hours ago, Seraph said:

I would imagine they'll be told to relax tomorrow.

50m penalty for shaking your head while looking at the ground. What an absolute joke.

Umpiring was very frustrating but the 50mt against Petracca was  paid against McDonald. He ran straight at the Umpire.

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Posted
1 hour ago, John Demonic said:

The only concern might be the flow on effect of an injury to Brayshaw or Langdon in the regular season. Would Jordan then play their predominantly? Will he be reliable enough? Or would it be another wasteland for the midfield rotations again? It might go back to being one of our weaknesses. Whatever happened to the training of TMAC as a wingman in early 2021? We had injuries to Weid/BB that shifted our focus, but is it permanently shelved as an option? When I saw the big lineup of Weid/Brown/Tmac/Jackson, I thought we might use it as an opportunity to see TMAC up the ground, minding space and providing aerial capabilities. But it might be too theoretical at this stage, more important to give forward line practice to TMAC for the regular season.

Anyway, putting all this practice-match nonsense aside, it will be great to see Brayshaw back on that wing.

For GSake JD the Tmac experiment for a wing that never made more than training last season is where it belongs, out in the undergrowth outside Casey Fields fences with the slitherers and Aussie Zoo reptiles. 

After Tmac's great comeback season last year to drag his name up for a wing is ridiculous at best, pathetic and unhelpful at worst.

Since when did he play any meaningful part or ever look like a modern day centreline asset?

Yes you will point to 5 minute cameos at the start of games early in 2018 to get him primed up for CHF or FF. And delusional fans ( like the coach or whoever ) think he could be a full time wingers Club member  with Angus and Lingers are about as clever as Mark Neeld  on match day tactics. 

It's like not deleting an email on your 2018 inbox for a street closure for 3 days   In June that year. WASTE OF SPACE.

Thankfully 95% of Dees fans have consigned some old habits after last season and very soon either Howes or Rosman  may be developed enough to release Angus to his former duties if that's the direction is favoured.

That in no way is a certainty as I was privileged to see front and centre seated on the wing at Optus Stadium last September Angus play his best ever game and be in the top5 for us in our flag triumph. He was everything a player could have been anywhere in a Demon guernsey that day so it's not an issue that Tmac is any where near solving especially as he has found his mojo at CHF again and his 2018 cameos have been deleted from Coaches files and hopefully 2022 supporters memories of yesteryear. 
I trust you are too embarrassed to even reply to this post.

Posted
9 hours ago, BDA said:

Ridiculous 50 meter penalties. Surely umps will be told to relax for round 1.

Are they that precious, they can't handle a little back chat from someone jogging past?

Crowd fines soon?

Geez.

  • Like 3

Posted

Didnt see it all but I give Carlton their dues.

Our minds and wings were lose for a fair while. Lots of fumbles.

Our backline looked like swiss cheese at times.

Thought young Bowey was good though. Lever rusty as expected and a few missing.

Two many players flying high at the same time so less ground ball gets.

Fritta back.in fine form.

Would have won if not for our old slow start.

Nothing really to see here. Just a practice game where we only flexed after half time and almost pinched it.

 

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Posted
7 hours ago, 4_Kent_Watts said:

Hunt was so loose=I don't want him as a Defender, he's not one. Goes for a run and misses a target=I don't want that from any Defender. That's what you get from him, from me=I don't want him in a Melbourne jumper. Hunt gets lost and out of position=I don't want him on the ground, especially as a Defender. Sorry Hunt Whipping boy rant over. I'd sure like him to improve but he reminds me of Sam Blease.

🙄

Posted

Unless Goodwin comes out today and confirms that the club had no intention to go full rat power, concede 7 consecutive goals, get smashed -23 in clearances, give away an equal record 8 50 mtr penalties and show a compete lack of detail to the 6-6-6 rule that’s been in the league for 3 or 4 years - then we ought to be disappointed with last night.

Aside from Gawn, Fritta and Sparrow (2 nice goals) basically every premiership player that played last night was below their capabilities.

Really disappointed in the talls in BBB and Jackson who both couldn’t grab a thing last night. T Mac looks a shadow of the T Mac of round 1-17 2021 but at least snagged 2 goals.

Petracca cant execute a regulation set shot goal for someone of his talent and is yet to really turn on his engine for 2022.

Would like Viney to be a bit more crisp with the footy.

Hunt failed his rehearsal and for a bloke of his pace, he gets run down way too much (refer GWS last year).

As mentioned by others, having 5 premiership defenders out no doubt upset the entire system whilst Carlton’s missing guns were spread over the field. At least they all stuck to their task in the last quarter to only concede 1 goal.

A lot to work on including discipline and narrowing the possession and clearance differential, but hopefully we’ll be ok.

Carlton looked slick last night and might finally be ready to take a  big step. I can’t believe someone here bagged Cripps earlier in the thread. 38 touches, 4 goals and a class above any of our mids on the night.

 

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